


stop and stare

by kangbora (ohfiitz)



Category: Day6 (Band), Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Chance Meetings, Christmas Vacation, F/M, Short One Shot, i guess, idk what else to tag this????
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22114054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohfiitz/pseuds/kangbora
Summary: Every year, Younghyun goes on a solo trip to be able to reflect by himself and get away from all the noise and the attention. At year’s end, however, he finds himself stuck in a small seaside town with another K-pop idol who… isn’t exactly the definition of quiet.
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K/Kim Bora | SuA
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	stop and stare

**Author's Note:**

  * For [atemzug](https://archiveofourown.org/users/atemzug/gifts).



> Dedicating this one to bimil for giving me the push to write for this pairing! I had been thinking about it but reading your fic was all it took to actually made me write, so thank you!

Kang Younghyun is used to being alone. He prefers it, even. As an only child who had to live on his own at a very young age, he finds it easier to do things alone than most people; and as an idol with a hectic lifestyle that often involves being the center of attention, he finds comfort in the rare instances of solitude he can squeeze in between the band’s activities. This is why he’s made it a personal tradition to go on a solo trip during the winter holidays, if the schedule allows it. He’s always been passionate about traveling, but his end-of-the-year trips are different, almost sacred. He looks at it as a way to nourish his soul and a time to just be his barest, most vulnerable self. He may be someone who shares his life with millions of other people during the rest of the year, but during his yearend trips, he’s just Kang Younghyun. He even makes it a point to choose unpopular destinations, places with very few people and a small chance that he would be recognized. 

Which is why it takes him aback when he suddenly hears someone singing a Day6 song at the only convenience store in the seaside town he’s currently staying at. 

_“Did a sasaeng follow me here?”_ was his first thought. His second thought was that the voice was actually pretty good. He searches for the owner of the voice and finds a short girl with long, reddish hair singing loudly _and_ dancing to Emergency. She looks like she’s having so much fun that it takes him a moment to realize that she’s completely just making up the lyrics. She doesn’t even sound like she’s singing in Korean. Honestly, he could simply and easily slip away without being noticed, but the town is so small that he figures they’d run into each other at some point anyway, so he might as well make his presence known and get it over and done with.

“Great choreo,” he ventures, hoping that she can still hear him over her loud singing.

“Oh my god! Shit! Fuck!” The girl turns around and freezes in shock, and Younghyun recognizes her now that he can clearly see her face, although he can’t quite put a name to it. She winces at her own profanity and reddens in embarrassment and she looks like she’s about to sprint right out of the store and straight into the ocean and it’s kind of cute, if he’s being honest. “Shit, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t know… I had no idea you were here. I promise!”

“No, no, it’s okay. I didn’t… well, yeah I didn’t want to be recognized but I guess there’s really no point in doing that now, is there?” Younghyun offers her a comforting smile. 

“No, I guess not.” She smiles back, and they just stand there smiling awkwardly at each other for a few seconds when she finally remembers. “Oh! I forgot to introduce myself properly. I’m SuA, from Dream-“

“Dreamcatcher, I know. You went to one of our concerts. I remember that.”  
  
“Yeah, well, we’re big fans of yours. Really.” The two idols exit the store and walk quietly for a few seconds, but SuA speaks up again when it was clear that Younghyun wouldn’t be the first to break the silence. “Are you here to go fishing?”

“No, just… to get some eggs.” _Okay, what the fuck was that?_ He was never this awkward, even with girls. “I mean, I’m staying here for a couple of days. Just to see the place and all that.”

“Hmm… interesting. Not many people come here as tourists. There’s really not much to see.”

The first thing Younghyun learns about SuA is that she talks a lot, and _very_ animatedly. Within the five or so minutes they spent walking from the store to the intersection separating their routes, he already learned the following things:

    1. She goes to this town every year to go fishing with her parents, but they had to attend to a work-related emergency while she was already on her way, so she’s stuck here alone.
    2. Most of the locals here already know her and they are all very kind people, so Younghyun doesn’t have to worry about anyone disclosing his location to the public. (“Also, don’t take this the wrong way, but they probably don’t know Day6 anyway. The locals are mostly old people and aren’t very knowledgable about popular music. They know I work as a singer in Seoul but have never heard of Dreamcatcher and aren’t even remotely interested in hearing about it.”)
    3. Her favorite Day6 song is Headache, but finds it too difficult to sing. 
    4. Her real name is Kim Bora (Younghyun thinks it’s pretty, and he blurts so out loud before he even realizes it).



  
She flashes him a genuine smile. “Thank you. Younghyun is a pretty name, too, though. It sounds softer than Young K or Brian, and more… youthful, I guess. Pure and innocent.”

_“_ Hmm, yeah I guess it does.” _That’s exactly why I don’t use it._

They reach the intersection and Younghyun prepares to say good bye, already looking forward to the pancakes he was planning to make at his homestay, but Bora beats him to it.

_“_ Oh hey, if you’re not going fishing, then do you want to go to the new year’s festivities by the beach? There’s usually fireworks at midnight and seafood and beer and some very terrible trot performances. It’s actually pretty fun.” She says excitedly, bouncing on her toes and chuckling a bit too loudly it almost makes him jump.

He means to say no, he really, _really_ does. Because honestly, spending new year’s eve with loud music and pyrotechnics and a whole town full of strangers is the exact opposite of what he came here for. But Bora is looking at him like she sees his sadness, like she knows it, like she holds the key to whatever it is he’s feeling and he only needs to take her hand and let her lead the way. So he does. 

As it turns out, the festival _is_ kind of fun. They stuff themselves up with dried squid and grilled lobster and crispy crablets and every street food they could find. They end up singing along with the terrible trot songs and get dragged into a dancing party with the elderly, and by the end of the night Younghyun finds himself more than a little bit intoxicated. Whether it’s because of the beer, or the salty comfort of the ocean breeze, or Bora’s melodious laughter, he isn’t sure; but he knows that he likes it. 

The festivities start to mellow down shortly before midnight, and Bora and Younghyun settle on a good spot near the water and far from the crowd to wait for the countdown and just listen to the waves. As Younghyun sips on his beer, he realizes that this is the first time that day that he’s stopped to just appreciate the silence, and yet he’s learned more about himself during this trip than in any other solo trip he’s done. He looks at Bora sitting beside him and she’s leaning back on her hands, wiggling her tiny feet against the sand and enjoying the chilly night air. He thought that her loudness—not just the volume of her voice, but the way everything about her seems larger than life—made her beautiful; but she’s beautiful like this, too: quiet, introspective, small against the vastness of the sea and the sky but still solid and sure and unwaveringly radiant. He thinks he can just stay silent and look at her forever, but he asks her instead, “Why are you suddenly so quiet?”

“You looked like you needed it,” she answers in that confident tone, the same one she used when she invited him to the festival earlier this morning, and the question must’ve shown in his face because she lets out a light chuckle. “What? You’re not a very difficult person to read, did you know that? And it’s not such a bad thing to be known, so you don’t need to be so scared of it.”

He believes her. If she told him that this morning, when he was just simply buying his eggs, he’d probably just brush it off. But he believes her now. He’d probably believe anything she says at this point, to be honest. 

Bora snaps him out of his reverie when she realizes it’s almost midnight. “Ah! The countdown’s starting! We shouldn’t miss the fireworks, it’s really beautiful from here.”

_10…9… 8…_

Kang Younghyun is used to being alone. He prefers it, even. For the longest time, he treated solitude like a safety blanket, retreating under it whenever he feels overwhelmed with all the lights and the cameras and the unending pressure to perform.

_7…6….5…_

And yet. Here is a girl who sees his need for solitude and takes his hand anyway. Maybe because she understands. Maybe because she’s Kim Bora, and she’s always been meant to draw people into her light.

_4… 3…_

Younghyun has worked hard to build this kind of life for himself. Happy and successful, yes, but also safe and lonely for the most part. He always thought it was just way things should be. But here is a girl with the loudest voice and the softest knowing eyes, and he finds himself unable to look away. Or stay still.

So he takes a leap.

_2… 1_

A small batch of fireworks light up the sky as he pulls Bora close and presses his lips to hers—gently, tentatively, like a wave asking for permission to land on the shore. It ends as quickly as she lets out a gasp.

“What was that for?” She whispers against his lips, and the softness of her voice almost makes him kiss her again.

But he doesn't. There are things he needs to let her know.

“To thank you. For not letting me spend the new year alone.”

He takes her hand in his and tenderly caresses it with his thumb, hoping that the gesture would show her that he really means it. Bora shivers and lets out a shaky breath, and Younghyun realizes that she’s nervous, too.

“You…” Bora clears her throat, maybe to shake the nerves away, and starts again, more resolutely, “Did you really enjoy it?”

“Of course.”

“Then thank me again.”

He kisses her again, more surely this time, and she kisses him back, and it’s the most natural thing in the world. Like a wave coming home to the shore.

**Author's Note:**

> There's probably a lot of grammatical mistakes in this, and that's because I didn't have the time or energy to edit it, so let's just pretend that we don't care :)


End file.
